Congress

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today after House Democrats succeeded in collecting 200 Democratic signatures on a “discharge petition” to force House consideration of H.Res.398, a rule which would allow consideration of H.R. 3244 (sponsored by Reps. Rangel/Cardin) and H.R. 3270 (Sponsored by Rep. Dunn).

WASHINGTON, DC – In a letter delivered to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (TX) this afternoon, House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) expressed his deep concern with the tactics being utilized by Republican leaders in the House to exclude Democratic members from conference negotiations.  Representative Hoyer requested that Democratic conferees, as is tradition, be included in the conferences to which they were appointed.  Currently, many Democratic conferees are shut out of “conference” meetings.  The text of the letter is as follows:

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) lambasted the Republican FAA Reauthorization conference report on the House Floor today – particularly the absence of a prohibition of privatizing air traffic control towers, which was included in the original House and Senate bills.  The following is Rep. Hoyer’s statement as prepared for delivery:

“Mr. Speaker, the Republican leadership has turned what should be a bipartisan achievement into a partisan travesty.

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) today released the following statement today criticizing Republicans for failing to include the privatization prohibition in the FAA Conference Report, which was in both the House and Senate passed bills:

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) lauded the passage tonight of a Motion to Recommit the FAA Reauthorization Act to the conference committee as a clear rebuke to the Republican leadership, which fundamentally altered the legislation in conference after it passed the House 418-8 and the Senate 94-0 in June.  The Democratic Caucus unanimously voted for this Motion, which passed by a vote of 407 to 0:

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) today released the following statement requesting that the Department of Justice apply a fair and non-partisan evaluation of the new Republican-drawn Texas redistricting map: 

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Tom DeLay "is in no position to question the patriotism" of President Bush's critics on Iraq, having once scathingly condemned President Clinton's military strategy in Bosnia, a Democratic leader said Thursday.

Rep. Steny Hoyer quoted DeLay as saying that the 1999 NATO-led bombing campaign was "President Clinton's war."

WASHINGTON – House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) released the following statement in observation of the start of the new fiscal year:

“Today marks the beginning of the 2004 fiscal year and only 3 of the 13 spending bills have made their way to the president’s desk – which makes it clearer than ever that the extreme, partisan agenda pursued by the members of the Republican Congress has resulted in a stalemate of their own making.

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today following passage of the bipartisan Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act, H.R. 2622), which is the reauthorization of the Fair Credit Reporting Act:

While House Democrats acknowledge that their Caucus is unlikely to reverse its eight-year minority status in the immediate term, they are not resigning themselves to becoming a permanent second-tier party.

Democrats say their new leadership, a lagging economy and President Bush’s slipping approval ratings all translate into glimmers of hope for a future majority. If the party were despondent, it would be facing massive retirements, defections on votes and low attendance at party events and meetings, Members and leaders argue.